Eh. what’s up doc? No no. Wrong one. I taut I taw a puddy tat. Nope.
Wrong again. Epeta epeta epeta. that’s all folks. Nope. Allo Edgie.
Nope. Nope. Nope. Those are mostly cartoon characters. Then who? Ah.
This Tidbits is aimed at the youthfully challenged but young at
heart. Hey. ya gotta love Political Correctness. It is of course
about jewelry. But it’s also about nostalgia of the first degree. How
many of you have started sentences with: “Do you remember…”
This is about a comedy team. The face of one was made into a costume
jewelry fur clip. He would have loved it. Let me tell you some more.
He was an elegant chap. Quite young. Wore a Top Hat and sported a
monocle. He once quipped to Dale Evans: “May I have a kiss good-bye?”
to which she responded: “Well, I can’t see any harm in that!” to
which he responded: “Oh, I wish you could. A harmless kiss doesn’t
sound very thrilling.”
This kind of repartee–while dull by today’s standards–was
considered quite risqu=e way back then. Our protagonist could only
get away with that because was little more than a child. He had
interchanges with many notables. among them Mae West and W. C. Fields
and others.
He had a younger sister who became an extremely famous actress… and
while I would venture to say everyone reading this has heard of her.
very few of you know of her origins. He was often referred to as her
wooden dummy of a brother.
May I elucidate? Our half of the famous comedy team was named Charlie
McCarty. He was a puppet and his ventriloquist partner was Edgar
Bergen. Candice Bergen’s father. Bergen and McCarty–who was modeled
after an Irish newsboy Edgar knew–had successful careers as a team
for 48 years. Edgar Bergen died three days after a farewell tour to
show business. He was 75 years old.
Today. the Top-Hatted, womanizing, monocled, BOY about town dummy
rests in Washington D. C.'s Smithsonian Institution. immortalized
forever. And as to Edgar Bergen. in 1991 the United States Postal
Service honored him with a 29- cent commemorative stamp.
And then onE day a famous jewelry firm by the name of Cohn &
Rosenberger was licensed by Edgar Bergen to make Charlie McCarty
pins. One is a enameled metal, mechanical (the jaw opened and close
with a lever in the back) fur clip. For those of you who knew and
remember Charlie McCarty who–parenthetically–always quipped to
Bergen what a poor ventriloquist he was. his lips were always moving.
the image you are about to see will bring back many many fond
memories. Personally. I remember him well. as well as Bergen’s
incessantly moving yap. What a charming duo.
There is an image of the fur clip of course–you know
where–available for your viewing pleasure. Hope you enjoy. Home
page. http://www.tyler-adam.com. Scroll down. Left side. Tidbits.
Click.
And there ya have it. That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark